IN-GAME ONLY: Downloading software illegally

[Anthony]

If you need to actually interact (probably electronically) with another person to find the thing that's streetwise, but area knowledge would cover knowing the location of popular torrent sites and the like.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Anthony

If you need to actually interact (probably electronically) with another person to find the thing that's streetwise, but area knowledge would cover knowing the location of popular torrent sites and the like.

*checks* OK, looks like I was mistaken on what Streetwise covered - I thought it was also the skill you used to identify things like bad areas in town, places to acquire illegal goods/services without getting busted, etc, but it's actually just about interacting with the types of people one might find in such places. What skill(s) would that be, when in an area you haven't been to before? My suggested Cyberwise is more of that flavor - it's what you use to help determine if a site, torrent, etc is a good one to get a clean copy of the software you're looking for, as well as to find such for review in the first place (via websearches, checking/posting in relevant forums, etc), without getting caught. I'd say Area Knowledge and the like would work as a complementary skill to it - you know where to typically find reliable torrents, say, but you'd still need Cyberwise (or whatever it would be called) to help you pick out the "legitimate" ones from those riddled with malware, monitored by authorities, etc.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Varyon

My suggested Cyberwise is more of that flavor - it's what you use to help determine if a site, torrent, etc is a good one to get a clean copy of the software you're looking for . . .

For software that's legal to possess, just expensive, it isn't that hard. I've done some of this, with a white hat on, looking for websites that were selling pirated copies of my employers' products.

Having a point in Research/TL8-9 is plenty of skill to find the stuff, and downloading and scanning the stuff with a couple of good anti-virus programs will get you a long way. Having the correct hashes for clean copies allows you to be pretty damn sure it's good, and those are easier to get by social engineering than said clean copies.

Remember that many of the conventions of classic cyberpunk were established in the days of modem-speed connections and primitive search tools. Things are different now, and will be in a plausible future.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Remember that many of the conventions of classic cyberpunk were established in the days of modem-speed connections and primitive search tools. Things are different now, and will be in a plausible future.

Cyberpunk says nothing about subscription-based software, for example, because it mostly didn't exist in the 1980s. If I want a modern version of Adobe Photoshop without paying the subscription fee, then copying a set of installation media won't help me; I'll have to get access to someone's subscription, with or without their knowledge, and depending on how and from where I use it that subscription may get closed down as a result.

[The Colonel]

Ironically, some of the military grade stuff may be easier to steal as, presumably, it won't be designed to run with permanent network connectivity…

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Ironically, some of the military grade stuff may be easier to steal as, presumably, it won't be designed to run with permanent network connectivity…

Yes and no.

For software to be used in the field by small squads, having constant and reliable network access is likely not going to be expected. But it will likely phone home periodically (every x minutes/hours), to get updated data or relay progress. It may also increase the possibility of recovering expensive hardware and highly valuable operatives with sensitive knowledge. There's also the possibility of deterring defectors if they know they can be tracked (or even shut down). You could set up some adventure seeds with this.

Any software used in a vehicle could likely be expected to have very frequent (if not constant) communication with a home server. And software used in a military run facility is almost guaranteed to require a constant connection to a specific server cluster.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

Yes and no.

For software to be used in the field by small squads, having constant and reliable network access is likely not going to be expected. But it will likely phone home periodically (every x minutes/hours), to get updated data or relay progress. It may also increase the possibility of recovering expensive hardware and highly valuable operatives with sensitive knowledge. There's also the possibility of deterring defectors if they know they can be tracked (or even shut down). You could set up some adventure seeds with this.

Any software used in a vehicle could likely be expected to have very frequent (if not constant) communication with a home server. And software used in a military run facility is almost guaranteed to require a constant connection to a specific server cluster.

Wouldn't that put a huge electronic warfare burden on the forces using this sort of software/firmware? Not only is signals silence going to be completely rodgered by its incontinent use of the comms systems, but presumably if you jam it, the user starts being spammed with system errors...

Originally Posted by Anthony

What does 'military grade' mean in this context? Most of the software the military has that's unique to the military is unique because no-one else actually needs that particular capability (unless we're treating the intelligence services as military).

It's a trope for most cyberpunk settings that there is civilian grade operating systems and what have you and military stuff that is full of better. I was thinking that part of the better might be that it doesn't need to be permanently hooked up to the interwebz and what have you, but see above,

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Ironically, some of the military grade stuff may be easier to steal as, presumably, it won't be designed to run with permanent network connectivity…

What does 'military grade' mean in this context? Most of the software the military has that's unique to the military is unique because no-one else actually needs that particular capability (unless we're treating the intelligence services as military).

Originally Posted by Anders

Area Knowledge (the Net)?

That and the lower of Research or Computer Operation is the direction I'd go.

[OldSam]

My current approach would be to use the Research skill and the Computer Operation skill level as a limit for that (limiting the maximum effective skill for the roll). Moreover I would also apply Familiarity (-2) if the character is not familiar with the "underground" part of the net.

On the other hand, as has been suggested, I would allow Streetwise as a complementary roll, too!

Regarding the typical "scene" connection stuff, it would fit very well IMO to give a good bonus (I'd use +2) if a character knows an underground starting point for the research. That bonus could be gained by informations from a contact for instance. (I'd give higher bonuses if the character knows many underground hot spots).


PS: In case the character wants to be stealthy in the net, too, trying to cover the tracks during the research, I would use Computer Hacking for that (or alternatively an extra Computer Operations roll at -5, if a campaign does not use the Hacking skill).